What exactly were the police doing with these identities, infiltrating environmental/anti-fascist organisations. the fact that the police are looking into organisations like that, worries me a lot more than using a deceased persons Identity. Don't you think we are really a bit beyond spying in that fashion, I don't think any government should spy on it's own population.

Just to head off the whole terrorism thing, the current line on giving up our liberty and freedom from suspiscion, for security against this perceived threat is bullshit, as well as the perceived threat, there are many well informed quotes around that topic. Why don't we stop being imperialist, why don't we demand our government stop being imperialist?

Another from the 29C3. Crossing the pond, lets have a look at a 'turnkey' state, it starts a half hour in for some reason. 29C3 - Enemies of the State

Re' the Japan Idol shaming.I am reminded of 'A Perverts Guide to Cinema' IIRC where Slavoj talks about the Female never getting to have the career and family, there is a distinct choice between one OR the other, but Males can have the relationships and the career, the japan Idol industry has managed to encase this sexism in contract law. Well done.

@johnjones I see your point, but this was the police investigating hippies protesting about road building not MI6 going into deep cover in Afghanistan. The boundaries crossed by these teams to investigate people who protest by dressing up as clowns is a bit extreme.

Oh, I agree with you on those points. A glance through of this indicates that some paranoid asshats sent cops undercover to dig up dirt. At which point the cops noted there was nothing interesting (in a legal sense) occurring and decided to bang some hippie chicks on the government's dime. The whole program seems foolish, wasteful and intrusive. The thing that had struck was the note of outrage that the parents of the dead kids weren't informed, like that was the thing that put this beyond the pale. Not the identity theft, infiltration, privacy violation and sex through fraud, but the not telling the parents.

@curb... politicians do something right for once? Bloody hell... even my Tory mp voted in favour, might actually email him to say well done, given that he's probably being bombarded with hate mail by swivel eyed lunatics. But then he's still a Tory I suppose...

@jones and @toase the bad thing here is that the police were being used by the the labour government to protect the interests of corporations rather than the tax paying public (whilst getting their nuts too). Thanks mr blairChrist I sound like a daily mail reader

@jones, @totse et al: One of those "hippy chicks" is a friend of mine. Another friend considered Mark Kennedy one of his closest mates until his cover was blown. The kid's identity part is the very least fucking part of the problem.

@Cat I know some people who were in a couple of the Leeds groups infiltrated. I have a very low opinion of the officers involved in this type of work. The fact that infiltration often weakens the evidence due to the lines between participation and observation blurring is the least of the problems.

I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I think it's an useful bit of information.

Did you know that if you travel to India you should call your bank first? Some debit cards, even international ones, like Visa and suchlike, are blocked for India and other "risk countries" by default and your bank needs to remove those restrictions so you can use the cards. Your banker might not know about this, so you might need to insist and tell him to call the service in charge of debit cards. This might save you a day of worry and several international calls while you're there.

re: The UK Gay Marriage vote: I like this quote on the subject, which cuts through most of his colleagues' bullshit and sums it up pretty nicely.

Nick Herbert, Conservative - "If marriage hadn't been re-defined in 1836, there wouldn't be any civil marriages; if it hadn't been re-defined in 1949, under 16-year-olds would still be able to get married; if it hadn't been re-defined in 1969, we wouldn't have today's divorce laws - and all of these changes were opposed. I know that the signal we send today about whether the law fully recognises the place of gay people in our society will really matter. Above all, I think of two people, faithful and loving, who simply want their commitment to be recognised, as it is for straight couples, and that in the end is what this bill is about."